The Halfblood Outlaw
by Chrono21
Summary: Cagalli was captured two years ago, and no one has seen her since. But when she comes back without her memory, what will she do? Blow stuff up of course! Rating just in case. Chpt 4 is up, and OMG its gory. May give nightmares.
1. Chapter 1: Breaking Out

The cells of Oni Santoryu were dark as the hearts of the people who lived there, people who shouldn't deserve to live. The world's worst criminals were there, along with a few people who had crossed paths with the leaders of Zaft in the past. There had never been a break-out in recorded history there, as there were at least fifty gundams, twenty armored cars, and armed guards swarming all over the place. The place was dark, cold, and dreary, though most of it's inhabitants had gotten used to the darkness over the long years.

Then why did she still hate it?

Deep in the darkness, a single, pure subconcious still flickered. Her mind was angry, so full of rage that ocassionly passed out when she could no longer keep her rage at bay. She usually awoke with bleeding fists and several deep holes in the wall. She often wondered why she didn't except the darkness, like all the others. The answer was always the same: _The darkness taints people's hearts, transforms them into something other than human. There must still be light in the world to keep the darkness at bay. Once someone has lost their heart, it's gone forever, without any hope of being retrieved from the darkness that now inhabited the person's soul._

That was the only sure thing in her mind. Questions constantly flickered through her mind, although most of the answers eluded her, like smoke. _Who am I?_ Only part of the answer came. _Cagalli Yu... Yu... DARN IT! Why can't I remember! _Chains rattled in the darkness as she gripped her throbbing head. Faces flickered through her mind like ghosts, but two appeared more frequently then others.

The first was a boy, around sixteen, with shoulder-length blue hair and shockingly green eyes. The next was slightly more distinctive. He was also a boy around sixteen, this time with brown spiked-up hair and bright violet eyes. Almost every time they were smiling at her, and Cagalli instinctively knew that they were both very dear to her. More faces appeared, but these two haunted her more than any others. But one thing bugged her, which nearly tore her apart. _If I used to care so much about them, why can I only remember only their faces! Who are they!_

Cagalli's thoughts were interupted when she sensed a prescence down the hall. Being in the dark had forced her to stop relying on her sense of sight so much, so in the two years she had been there her already heightened senses had sharpened to an almost impossible degree. She could already smell the slop that they fed the prisoners, although as far as she could tell the officers were dining on gourmet food. _Oh well. _She thought._ Maybe I can actually ask the guard some questions this time. Most of the time I'm asleep when he comes around._

Cagalli could hear the guard grumbling and cursing about having to feed the prisoners, even though they were only fed about once a day. _What do you have to complain about!_ Cagalli thought angrily._ At least you actually get three meals a day. I've had so many questions for so long now, and you're gonna answer them even if I have to kill you!_

She slowly got to her feet and stumbled towards the door as she saw the light the guard was carrying move to a few doors away. She could only get to a few feet away from the door since she was chained to the cell wall. Even with the light, she could barely make out the guard as he moved in front of the barred hole in her door. He grumbled as he slid his key into the rusty lock. It jammed once, but the guard just cursed and kicked the door open. He looked slightly surprised when he saw Cagalli was actually on her feet.

"Looks like you still got some fight in you after all these years, huh? Good thing, I'd hate to miss a paycheck because you died of starvation." The guard chuckled as he dropped her bowl of food on the floor and turned to leave. Cagalli raised a shackled hand to stop him. "Wait!" The guard stopped and turned around again.

"Can you just tell me one thing? Why am I here?" Cagalli watched patiently as the guard's expression transformed from one of annoyance, to one of pure joy. He slid against the wall, clutching his sides. Laughter suddenly filled the cell. Cagalli stood there, frozen in shock. Here she was, with hardly any memory of who she was and what she was doing there, and he was laughing!

The guard continued to laugh as he stood up and wiped the tears from his eyes. He looked straight at her shocked expression, then burst into another laughing spree. "Oh my... This is just _rich! _I can't believe you forgot!" He slowly got up and kicked over the bowl of food. "Well, I might as well go ahead and tell you. You tangled in the affairs of the leader of Zaft, so you ended up here. This always happens to anyone who tangles with the leaders. And you helped cause the biggest downfall ever: you destroyed Genesis, a mega-cannon that was going to destroy half of the earth."

In a flash, Cagalli found herself full of rage. _That_ was why she was here, being tormented for two years? She realised that she had been clenching her hands so tightly that they were beginning to bleed. She could feel energy coursing through her veins, and her muscles were knotting up painfully. She had to get out!

She quickly jerked her arm up, and, to the surprise of both her and the guard, broke the rusty chains as though they were made of cardboard. Before the guard could pull out his gun, she landed a round-house kick right on his jaw. The guard cried out in pain and dropped onto the ground, twitching. Cagalli took the time to kneel beside him and bind him with her chains, ripping a piece of his shirt and stuffing it in his mouth to gag him. She couldn't have him waking up before she was out.

Cagalli grabbed the keys off his belt and raced down the hall, leaping all the way up the stairs. She stopped when she saw a map on the wall of one of the hallways, and after looking at it for a moment, started grinned like a mad person. It seemed that they had a bunch of rooms, where they packed all of the objects a prisoner came with. Her own room was just down the hall. She ran towards the door and unlocked it.

The room only had a single safe in it. Cagalli automatically walked over to the safe and punched in a few numbers on the lock. The door slid open, startling Cagalli. _Now where did I learn that?_ She slowly reached into the safe, retrieved a pair of custom pistols. They fit her hands perfectly. One was white steel, the other black. She noticed the black handgun had the word _Dusk_ written on the side in red letters, while the the white other had the word_ Dawn_ written on it. "_Dusk_ and _Dawn_..." Caggali said quietly. "My old twin pistols. These two saved my life a lot of times..."

"Hey! What are you doing!" Cagalli jumped to one side as a bullet hit the spot where she had been only a moment before. She whirled and fired, all of it subconcious, drilled into her and impossible to ignore. The pistol flew out of the unfortunate guard's hand, and Cagalli was on him in a split second. She landed a back-breaking kick right to his chest. The guard flew out of the room, slid to the ground and groaned, coughing up a little blood.

Cagalli casually walked back into the supply room. In the back of the safe that had contained her pistols was a brown hooded cloak. She pulled on a pair of combat boots that were also in the safe. When she stood up, she caught a look at herself in a mirror at the end of the room.

Staring back at her was a blond girl with amber eyes, and hair that practically reached her waist. _Okay then._ She thought silently to herself. _As soon as I get out of here, I'm giving myself a haircut._ She was wearing casual clothing beneath the cloak: a magenta shirt with a green vest pulled over it and a pair of khaki pants. She retrieved her old belt, with it's many side-pouches, from the safe. Due to the one-meal-a-day thing, she had lost a considerable amount of weight, but with a few adjustments the belt fitted perfectly. She then noticed a badge sitting on top of the safe. It was black steel on one side, and white on the other. _That's odd. I don't remember that being there when I first came in. _She clipped it on her cloak, right over her left shoulder. She then slid _Dusk_ and _Dawn _into their holsters and exited the room, locking the guard in behind her.

After that, getting out of the prison was easy. She repeated the method with which she had dealt with the second guard: she fired their guns out of their hands, then knocked them out. Today was Cagalli's lucky day: since none of the guards she had knocked out had had time to sound the alarm, all the gundam pilots were on their lunch break. After knocking them out, she helped herself to a bit of their lunch, then hijacked a jeep. Cagalli smiled for the first time in two years as the wind ran through her hair. She was out of there!

Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala walked quietly down the halls of the Archangel towards the de-briefing room, where Captain Murrue Ramius was going to tell them about a break-out at Oni Santoryu prison. Kira sighed as his mind turned toward his twin sister, Cagalli Yula Attha. She had been captured two years previously by Zaft and her whereabouts were currently unknown. She had been especially good at break-out cases.

"Thinking 'bout Cagalli again, Kira?" Kira turned and looked at Athrun. His best friend never ceased to amaze him when it came to being able to read his mind. He looked ahead again and sighed. "Yeah. It seems that there's not a single day that goes by that I don't think of her. I know everyone else thinks that if we haven't found her yet, she's probably dead. But I just can't give up on her. I can't."

"I know bud, but we can't really do that much. We've looked all over the world, we've searched every Zaft prison that we're allowed into, not to mention scouring the Internet. There's not much more we can do." Kira sighed as they continued down the hallway. Cagalli, his cheerful, though stubborn, twin. They may have been seperated at birth, but in the months they had known each other they had grown extremely close. The thought of life without her practically killed him.

They reached the de-briefing room and stood quietly, waiting for Captain Ramius. Kira fiddled with a lock of his spiky, brown hair, while Athrun just stood there waiting patiently. Athrun wondered just who would be powerful, or cunning, enough to break out of Oni Santoryu. The prison was well guarded with hundreds of guards, a large group of gundams, and to top it all off, armored cars! Whoever had broken out of there was no rookie, that was for certain.

The door slid open, and Captain Murrue Ramius walked in, with a video tape in her hand. Kira's head snapped up as his commanding officer's presence brought him back from the world of daydreams. He knew that he would be in real trouble if he started day dreaming during this de-briefing. A break-out at Oni Santoryu was important. Anyone who could bust out of there should be considered especially dangerous and be aprehended immediately.

The Captain walked over to a screen behind her, videotape in hand, before turning to her two ensigns. "Just so you two know, this will be my first time to watch this videotape as well, so I have no idea of who the suspect is. When I first got it at Oni Santoryu, I didn't have any time to watch it myself. I got it straight from the camera as well, so no one else has seen it, and we can possibly keep from alerting the public that there's been a break-out at such a high-security prison. We'll need to aprehend the suspect as quickly as possible. Sit down." Athrun and Kira did as they were told and sat in two seats in the de-briefing room.

She turned around and put then tape in the VCR that was hooked up to the screen. "This videotape was recording in front of the Item Storage Room number 3916. The guard was knocked out and is currently in the hospital with a broken chest plate." She turned on the tape, and they watched as the guard went in the storage room after making his round at the end of the hall, only to be thrown out against the wall. The figure inside's shadow headed toward the doorway. "Here comes the suspect." Ramius said.

When the figure came to the door, Kira gasped in surprise. Her hair was longer, long enough to reach her waist, and she had lost a lot of weight, but it was still her. He stood up so quickly that he knocked his chair over, while the other two gave startled cries. Kira stared at the image of the person he had been looking for for two long years, the prisoner of Oni Santoryu. "It... It's Cagalli!"

A note from the author

Hi everyone! I'm Chrono21, and I hope you liked the first chapter of my fanfiction, The Half-blood Outlaw. I'm very proud of this first chapter, and I hope that you enjoyed reading it just as much as I enjoyed writing it. There are just a few things I want to get off my chest first, before going on to the next chapter.

#1. This fanfiction will be centered mainly around Cagalli. Anyone who doesn't like her will probably not like this fanfiction. I will switch to Kira and Athrun frequently to get their parts of the story, but its all about Cagalli.

#2. The world that this fanfiction takes place in is hardly anything like that of Gundam Seed. It has Gundams, the characters, the Archangel, Zaft, the Earth Alliance, and the coordinators, but that's about where the similarities end. This fanfiction takes place in a world much like the old west. It has oases, and arctic areas, but most of this world is a wasteland of desert.

#3. In case you haven't figured it out by now, Cagalli is my favorite character in Gundam Seed, and I'm just kicking myself for making her lose her memory, but that's the only way I could make this work. If you think that you've summed up this fanfiction by now, I've got a few surprises for you! There will be a lot of plot twists, loop holes, cursing, hilarious moments, flash-backs, and of course, violence, before this fanfiction is over!

#4. Because I don't pay attention to the names of many people in Zaft and I haven't seen Gundam Seed Destiny, don't be surprised if there are a slew of new characters in this fanfiction and some of the other all ready existing characters don't make an appearence. Please don't chew me out too badly.TT

#5. There will be very few gundam battles in this fanfiction. Most of the battles will be huge, but usually hand-to-hand or gun battles.

#6. I'm currently working on the next chapter, though it will probably take me a while to finish it. I'll try to post as soon as I have at least five reviews. Please don't rush me!

#7. THANK YOU!


	2. Chapter 2: Wanted: Dead or Alive

Hiya everyone! Here's chapter 2, just like I promised. And I forgot the disclaimer, in case that's why three people have me on alert. If that's the case, I'm so sorry. It's my first fanfic, so I kinda forgot. I'll try not to do in again. (clears throat.) Okay, here goes: I don't own Gundam Seed, unfortunately, or any of it's characters. The only characters in this fanfic that I do own are OCs like Edward Havoc and his father, whom you will meet in this chapter. I will tell people which characters are OCs and which are not to avoid more confusion. Once again, I am sorry, and without further ado, here's the second chapter.

Chapter 2:

Wanted: Dead or Alive

(ZAFT base, Australia.)

Eighteen year-old Lieutenant Edward Havoc tread quickly down the halls of the Zaft Australian Base, one of the few bases that the Earth Alliance had yet to find out about, a sort of trump card in case Zaft was ever in real danger. He was not very happy on this particularly fine afternoon, namely because he had just been summoned by his father, General Rando Havoc, the leader of the base. The General only personally gave his son missions when they were quite difficult. Edward sighed, his spiky white-blonde hair in terrible dissaray. His father would probably assign him the Oni Santoryu case, since it had been three days now since the escape and the prisoner, known only by her cell number 3916, had expertly eluded them.

Edward now stopped in front of his father's office, trying in vain to straighted his messy white-blonde hair and Zaft uniform. As the son of the leader of the Australian base, he was expected to be cool, calm, and prepared at all times. Everyone, especially his father, expected that of him. But today, he was a wreck, after spending a week tracking down and eliminating a spy who had infiltrated the Zaft base, and had then spent last night with no sleep while he was writing a report.

Well, there was no point in delaying the inevitable any longer, so Edward raised his hand and rapped his knuckles against the cold steel door. He heard a shuffling noise from within and a voice, as cold and steely as the door, answered. "You may enter." Edward felt as though an ice cube had slid down his spine. His father never failed to creep him out when he was in a bad mood, which was pretty often since the fall of Patrick Zala, and along with him, Zaft. The door slid open, interupting Edward's thoughts and emitting him into his father's office.

The first thing he really noticed was the decoration in the office. Although the walls were cold steel, they were lined with various weapons, some antique and some only recently made. However, thanks to his father's customization, all of them were deadly, right down to the oldest handgun. His father rarely used them anymore, since he was always doing work at the base taking care of it and making certain it was in top working order. In fact, Edward was certain that he had never seen his father in action.

Even more imposing than the weapons was General Rando himself. He was a tall man, well over six feet tall, with shoulder-length platinum-blonde hair and sharp green eyes that never seemed to miss a thing, like a cat's eyes. He was sitting at his desk, signing important documents, completely engrossed in his work. He looked up as Edward entered, and his eyes instantly warmed as he pushed aside his papers without a second thought.

"Edward! My son! Sit down, sit down, no need for the usual formalities!" Edward walked over to the large chair in front of his father's desk. His father quickly bustled around the office, selecting a few papers from his filing cabinet, then whirled around to another point in the room, all the while humming a cheerful tune. Edward was slightly bewildered. He hadn't seen his father this cheerful in months.

His father finished gathering his papers and sat back down in his swivel chair. He grinned at Edward, before flashing him a thumbs-up sign. "Now then, enough beating around the bush, Edward. As you know, the convict who broke out of Oni Santoryu is still on the loose. Efforts to identify her have proved futile, as there was no record of her in the prison archives. We can only assume that she took the records. She has caused no trouble since the escape. However, she has managed to elude us at every turn."

This puzzled Edward, as no one had managed to elude his father before now. If the prisoner was so good at maneuvering, how had she gotten caught before? This was turning into an interesting mystery. He walked up to the desk and took a paper from his father. It showed the path the prisoner had taken before they had lost her. Her path zig-zagged over increasingly difficult terrain, which was easy for her jeep, yet made it difficult for the crew that was pursuing her. "Amazing, Father." He said as he moved his finger over the path in ink. "She must be a master of tactical manuvering."

(Cagalli.)

"Ok, I have no idea where I am." Cagalli yawned as she looked down on the market square from the sandstone building she was sitting on top of. People bustled by as they took care of their shopping needs with their families, not noticing the cloaked figure sitting attop the building. Cagalli scratched her head thoughtfully. "I know that I've been here before, but I can't figure out when or why."

She directed her attention to the vendor straight below her. He was selling melons, along with wine made from melons, though no one seemed to want to but it. Cagalli noticed for the first time in a few days that she was starving. Because of her treatment in Oni Santoryu, she had always been hungry, though she ignored the hunger most of the time. Unfortunately, she didn't have any cash, so she would have to steal.

Cagalli smiled thoughtfully as a plan formed in her cunning mind. She began to dig around in the pockets of her belt, sifting through objects until she located what she was looking for: a small dagger and a long piece of string. She slowly wrapped half of the string around the dagger's blue handle, making certain that it was tied tightly on the handle. She kept a firm grip on the opposite end of the string as she took the dagger in the opposite hand and took careful aim for a large cask of wine next to the vending stall.

She threw and heard the dagger hit home, jerking the string back in one swift motion, quickly pulling the dagger up onto the roof and back into her hand. Wine spewed onto the street from the hole she had embedded into the cask, and the unfortunate vender blanched and tried to stop the flow of wine. While he was distracted by the wine, Cagalli took her chance, throwing the dagger and imbedding it in a large melon, reeling her prize in as quickly as possible.

"This is way too easy." She said to herself as she walked with her prize towards the center of the roof, where she couldn't be seen by anyone from the street. She sat down, yawning as she slammed the melon on her knee, splitting it straight down the middle. She selected a half, then bit into the melon's juicy flesh. Delicious.

(Kira and Athrun.)

"This is the place." Kira said, looking from the map to the town three hundred feet ahead of them. They had been traveling across the desert for a few days now, tracking Cagalli's path by who had seen her, what direction she had been going, and how long ago she had been there. "This is the most logical place she would have gone to, since it's the only town between here and Oni Santoryu."

Athrun nodded as he removed their weapons from the back of their jeep, just in case things got ugly. He had spent the day before they left studying Cagalli's behavior on the tapes from Oni Santoryu, just so he would know her reactions. Her behavior struck him like that of a wounded animal, lashing out at anything that may prove a threat to it's survival. If she was still acting like that, things probably weren't going to be pretty. The only thing Athrun hoped was that the damage to the town wouldn't be _too_ bad. He didn't want to spend another evening filling out insurance forms.

"Well, there's no point in delaying this any longer, not if we want to catch Cagalli before she leaves town." Athrun said, turning toward Kira, who he noticed was strapping a machine gun to his back. "Let's get going." The two turned, and walked towards town.

(back with Cagalli.)

Cagalli finished up her breakfast, before returning to her spot overlooking the market place. She was feeling slightly sleepy, since she hadn't had much time to sleep on the way here, and the hot desert sun certainly wasn't helping any. She closed her eyes, tuning out all of the hustle and bustle of the market. She was just beginning to drift off to sleep when a few comments caught her attention.

"So this is the scum that broke out of Oni Santoryu!"

"How could it be? She looks so young!"

"I feel sorry for the young man who was guarding the room she robbed. I heard the poor boy is in the hospital with a broken chest."

"Yes, what brave young men are there at Oni Santoryu, dealing with the scum there and making certain they don't escape. Bless their souls!"

Brave young men? Cagalli chuckled slightly at their ignorance. If they had known the truth, they would think twice about calling the guards "brave young men." She sat up and looked over at the message boards, where all of the talk of Oni Santoryu was going on. Everyone was crowding around a large poster plastered in the center of the message boards. It read:

_Prisoner number 3916 of Oni Santoryu has escaped. Individual is about 5 foot 7 inches, blonde, with amber eyes, and is armed with two twin pistols. Individual was last seen heading west in a stolen jeep. If you see this individual, contact authorities immediately._ Right below that caption and the picture beneath it it read: $10,000 Reward. Dead or Alive.

Cagalli sat there and thought about this for a while. Being wanted could lead to some serious problems. She had cut her hair when she came to town, but how many people had blonde hair _and_ amber eyes. It wasn't exactly a common combination.

Before she could give any more thought to the matter, she heard a commotion and saw everyone heading toward the entrance to town. "Hmm... This might be interesting." She stood up and walked to the end of the building. She tensed, then jumped across a ten-foot gap onto the building across from it. She hit the roof and rolled onto her feet, before continuing on to the next one. Before long, she had reached the entrance to town, a lot faster than everyone else.

Standing at the gate, were two figures in hooded cloaks. The hoods obscured there faces, but Cagalli could see them talking to a group of people at the gate. With her enhanced hearing, she could easily pick up what they were saying.

"So, are you here looking for that escaped prisoner?" The tall man was asking the cloaked figures. Cagalli stiffened when she noticed the weapons they were carrying. She could probably beat them with _Dusk _and _Dawn_, but there were way too many people around and she didn't want to hurt anyone not involved. The two figures looked at one another, before nodding.

"Yes. We are soldiers from the Earth Alliance, sent here to retrieve prisoner 3916." At this, a lot of the people began to relax, certain that they would handle it. Cagalli took a moment to reload _Dusk _and _Dawn_, because the way things looked there was gonna be a show-down. The tall man stepped forward. "Pardon me, but we can't be too careful these days." The two looked up in surprise.

"Could you please show us your faces and IDs?" The two looked at one another again, before nodding. They both pulled down the hoods on their cloaks, and Cagalli gasped and stood up on the top of the building. "It's them!"

A note from the author.

Hey everyone! I'm sorry that I'm late on my deadline, but I got grounded and then my Mom wouldn't let me on the computer for two days! Jeez, is everyone trying to stop me from working on this fanfic? This chapter is shorter than the first one, and I'm sorry that it doesn't have any action. The next chapter will be better, I'm just in the slow part of my fanfic. Trust me, you'll all thank me for it once the real action begins. And now, I'm gonna answer the reviews!

**Anime-kaiya, Loopy loki, and unknown: **Thank-you all! I hope you like this next chapter!

**Ravenwyrd:** Whoa. Big review. My head is spinning! I hope you like this chapter, and unfortunately, I haven't seen Firefly, though I will check it out.

**Lalalu:** Hmm... Romance, huh? I'll think about it, but right now I think there are just _way_ too many Athrun X Cagalli fanfics out there and not enough Action/adventure titles about Cagalli.

**Digital-Dragon-Master:** YAY! I was hoping you'd check this out!

**MXC-the show-rocks my socks:** Thanks! I'll try to keep it coming!

Sorry folks, but this time I'm gonna try to wait until I get ten more reviews to update, mainly because I'm trying to get ahead of you guys! You're all great, along with anyone else who read but didn't review! See you all in chapter 3! But before I go, here's a preview of Chapter 3. I forgot to do this for Chapter 2.

Forgotten memories, forgotten friends. And a great adventure begins with a wild chase that will draw an entire city into possible chaos. The Half-blood Outlaw Chapter Three: Chase


	3. Chapter 3: Chase

Hi everyone! I finally got around to this new chapter. My mom grounded me because of bad grades, and didn't let me back on until December 10th. I've been working hard, and I hope you like this new chapter! Unfortunately, it has cursing, so don't read this to any children! (Why would you anyway? You'd contaminate their impressionable minds!) Disclaimer: as everyone already knows, I don't own Gundam SEED or any of it's characters. Enough said. Now let's get to the new chapter!

Chapter Three: Chase

Cagalli was in shock, there was no getting around it. These two were definitely the people who were haunting her dreams and nightmares. Why were they here? And why were they the ones hunting her down? She hadn't done anything wrong. Okay, so stealing that melon earlier wasn't exactly a good thing, but she needed to eat.

She got to her feet, oblivious to the fact that anyone could look up and see her, and walked to the edge of the building. Sweat was trickling down her face, a result of the shock she was in at the moment. She used her keen sense of hearing to pick up on the conversation again, even though she was panting.

The tall man was talking. "What are your names?" The blue-haired boy answered first. "Athrun Zala." The other boy answered after him. "Kira Yamato, Sir." The man looked somewhat unconvinced, but both of them produced their IDs. He looked at them for a moment, the broke into a wide smile. "So, you're from the Earth Alliance? We're glad you came. If that convict is running around, who knows what she might do?"

Athrun smiled. "Yes, we're here to get the prisoner and take her back to the Earth Alliance. Just leave everything to us, Sir." At this, the crowd broke into a cheer. Cagalli gave a cry of pain, which was neutralized by the noise the crowd was making, and clapped her hands over her ears. _Dang,_ she thought,_ sometimes having enhanced hearing and reflexes is a bad thing._ Suddenly, the crowd went quiet.

"There she is!" Someone shouted, and a rock came hurtling out of the crowd and hit Cagalli squarely in the forehead. Stunned, she toppled forward and crashed onto a vending stall below, breaking through the cheap plywood. "My stall!" A man in the crowd cried out. The crowd surged forward. "Oh crap!" Cagalli yelled, jumping to her feet.

There was a metal garbage dumpster next to the stall, so she nimbly leapt onto it, jumping upward to grab the edge of the rooftop. She flipped onto the roof as she noticed the crowd breaking apart to let Kira and Athrun through. She began running back along the rooftops. She smiled.

_I have the higher ground, so there's no way they can beat me from down there!_ Suddenly, a net came flying out of nowhere, wrapping itself tightly around her legs. Cagalli gave a surprised yelp and toppled forward onto the hot stone. She heard Kira's cry of victory. "We got her, Athrun! Let's go get Cagalli!" The two jumped onto the roof, using the same method Cagalli had.

As they approached, Cagalli struggled. The net was made of metal, so she couldn't get out of it. Her mind was going into overdrive, she was panicking fast. Her arms were free, but what could she do if her legs were bound? Kira and Athrun were approaching fast. She gave a roar of rage. "I won't go back to Oni Santoryu!"

In a flash, _Dusk_ and _Dawn_ were out of their holsters. Kira and Athrun drew their own weapons as well, afraid that she was going to attack them. Cagalli smiled. "I don't have bullets to waste on you!" She aimed her pistols downward and began to shoot. The bullets tore through the ceiling as she fired at several places that outlined her body. "Going down!" She yelled, as she tumbled into the house below.

Cagalli crashed onto a wooden table. A knife flipped through the air, coming downward toward her! Cagalli cried in surprise and rolled to one side. The knife thudded into the table. Cagalli gulped as she looked at the glistening blade. "See... And here I thought good reflexes were a bad thing." She sat up. "Damnit! Enough is enough!" She shouted, ripping through her bindings.

In a flash, Cagalli leapt to her feet and jumped through the hole in the roof, through the dust caused by her crash into the house. She flipped over Kira and Athrun's heads and landed on her feet, wincing as her knees buckled slightly beneath her. She hadn't meant to use that much power ripping through the net, but she was desperate and her reactions had slowed. She ran.

Suddenly, a loud screeching noise filled her head, and a horrible pain settled in her leg. It buckled just as she made it to the end of the roof and she toppled into the alley below, bouncing off a rusted garbage dumpster. She landed on her side and sat up quickly. It looked as though one of the muscles in her leg had slid out of place, giving her a killer Charlie Horse. "Damnit! This is no time for my leg to give out on me!"

Cagalli jerked her head up as she heard the crowd coming closer to the alley where she was, which that Kira and Athrun would be here soo as well. She looked around for an avenue of escape. There was nothing. She knew that her leg didn't have the strength at the moment for another jump, and the alleyway was a dead end. At this rate, either she would be sent back to Oni Santoryu, which wasn't an option if she was going to keep her life (and sanity), or she would be ripped apart by the maddened crowd.

"What the hell can I do?" Sweat was pouring down her face. She dragged herself to her feet and, using the wall for balance, scanned the alleyway, looking for some escape route she had overlooked. There was still nothing there. _So much for miracles._ She thought. She began to half-walk and half-drag herself over to the end of the alleyway. When she reached it, she turned to face the entrance, noticing for the first time that blood was trickling down her forehead where the rock had hit her.

"Well... either way I'm not going down without a fight!" She said fiercely as she gritted her teeth and reloaded _Dusk_ and _Dawn._ Something glittered as it caught her eye. She turned and looked in the corner. "Perfect." She said, grinning triumphantly.

(With Kira and Athrun)

"Come on, Athrun! She's getting away!" Kira shouted as he leapt to his feet, pulling his best friend up as quickly as possible. Athrun was slightly dazed after falling over and whacking his head on the rooftop. "Huh?" He said as he was still getting his senses. Kira jerked him in front of his face. "Cagalli... getting away!" Athrun shook his head as recognition dawned on his face. "Oh! Right!"

They both ran across the roof tthe edge, leaping into the alley that Cagalli had dissapeared into. They looked around. "She's gone..." Athrun said. Kira looked at him. "Athrun, what do you think she meant by: "I won't go back to Oni Santoryu?" "

(back with Caggalli)

Down in the sewers below the city, Cagalli was sitting, tying a scrap of cloth torn from her cloak around her head to stop the bleeding. It stank down there, but after being locked in Oni Santoryu for two years it was nothing. Luckily, a sidewalk had been built running along the wall, which she had followed for as far as she could drag herself before taking a break.

Cagalli looked up at the manhole above her. "My escape trick will fool them, but not for long." She pulled herself to her feet. "Better start moving, if I want to get out of town alive." Her leg buckled again, and she grabbed the wall for support. "Stupid crap!" She started moving.

(elsewhere, with neither Kira, Athrun, or Cagalli)

In the town hall, a riot was breaking out. Everyone was in a rage from the chase earlier, and things were looking bad. Tidus Strife looked on from a shadowy corner of the room, watching the plan he had set into motion unfold. He chuckled wryly to himself. _"I really need to thank the Attha brat when I get a chance." _He thought to himself. He looked at the crowd gathered in the town hall. _"Or if I get a chance."_

The town mayor, a stocky fellow who's name Tidus never managed to remember, was speaking (or yelling) to the crowd. "Are we going to let her get away with this? Destroying parts of our city?" The crowd roared angrily. "She broke part of my house!" A woman from the crowd cried out.

The mayor shook his head angrily. "As you all know, five people have been murdered since she got here. Are we going to let her get away with inhumanly BUTCHERING our fellow townspeople!" Once again, the crowd roared with anger. "Then let's find her! To hell with the Earth Alliance! It's time we take matters into our own hands!"

The crowd roared and began to leave the room. Tidus chuckled. Those poor ignorant fools. They had no idea that the real killer was standing not ten feet away from them. Still, the prisoner of Oni Santoryu, whom he knew to be Cagalli Yulla Attha, made a good scapegoat, and it looked like the townspeople would torch their town to the ground to get to her.

As soon as the crowd had filed out, Tidus left his corner and headed on to the roof of the building. He looked out across the rooftops, his shoulder-length black hair flowing in the wind. He chuckled and began to load amunition into his handguns and one shotgun. "Well, Cagalli Yulla Attha, let's begin the killing game!"

From Chrono21

Hi everybody! I hope you like the new chapter! It seems I've raised a ton of questions though. Like who is Tidus Strife? What is this "killing game"? Will Cagalli get out of town in time before the crowd rips her to shreads? What's up with Kira and Athrun? It's cliff-hanger city!

Anyways, I'll try to get the next chapter up faster this time. Thank you everyone who's reviewed this time. You guys (and girls) are the reason that when I don't feel like writing, I do it anyway because I know you're waiting for the next chapter. You guys all rock and I'll see you in the nest chapter! Oh, and here's the preview of the next chapter. Cagalli is saying it, so don't get confused.

"Damn it! All these murders are going on, and they're blaming me! Even more innocent people are getting killed, and if I don't wrap this up, I can't get out of town! That murderer! Use me as a scapegoat, will you? I've got to figure out these murders fast, before the villagers get me first! The Half-blood Outlaw, chapter 4: Framed. Damn it! Why does this weird stuff happen to me?"


	4. Chapter 4: Framed

Chrono21 in the house

Hey everyone! I got up this new chapter, and I hope you'll be satisfied. Don't own Gundam SEED, just OCs like Edward Havoc, his dad Rando, and Tidus Strife.

Just a warning, if you can't stand blood, gore, mutilation, body parts, etc. you need to get out of here. Seriously, this is not something you would want any kid to see. I had nightmares for a week after writing some of this stuff. I'm serious. This stuff could only have come from my mind after reading a lot of Steven King novels and watching too much of Descendants of Darkness. This chapter alone changed the rating from Teen to Mature so that I won't get banned. This chapter definitely takes you on a trip to Hell.

You have been warned, so don't chew me out or report me. I have changed the necessary rating, I have warned you, I have said all that I can, so don't report me or hold me responisble for any nightmares you may have. Last warning: get out if you do not like or are able to stand articles mentioned above. Believe me, I had nightmares too after this, so if you do you're not the only victim. I'm still totally freaked out that I wrote this stuff. I thought for aweek or so after finishing this that I was posessed, and haven't put it up because I was afraid of the consequences of some of the stuff in here. Don't sue me, please!So cover grandma's eyes and those of you with brave hearts and strong stomachs may continue. This chapter is definitely getting an 'R' rating.

Chapter 4: Framed

"I have to take a break. My body has its limits." Cagalli slumped against the sewer wall, sliding to the ground. "Stupid leg! Why's it gotta freeze up now?" She said angrily. Then she remembered the chase and how difficult it had been for her. "Well, I guess it could have been worse. I could be in Oni Santoryu right now. Or Hell."

"Damn it! Where is she?" Startled, Cagalli glanced up at the light filtering through the holes in a manhole above her head. There was a metallic clink as people ran over it. She listened with a detached interest to the conversation going on above her.

"Hey, has anyone found her yet?" One of the people said as Cagalli flexed her tired limbs, trying to make herself a little more comfortable while she was eavesdropping on this conversation.

"No." Came the tired answer, and Cagalli heard a metallic clink as someone set a pole down on top of the manhole cover. "That damn murderer has vanished. Even those guys from the military are stumped."

Cagalli froze. _Murderer?_

One of the other men sighed. "Yeah. I can't believe it. Nothing like this has ever happened here before. Two houses are down already. Each of them, an adult male, an adult female, and one or more kids, all slaughtered like animals. Only a real _monster_ could do something like that."

Cagalli heard footsteps approaching rapidly. She quickly made sure that _Dusk_ and _Dawn_ were ready, because she was going to get to the bottom of this murder mayhem. Someone had framed her, and for that, she was going to kill him.

"Hey, did you hear?" A new voice joined the group, apparently the person that Cagalli had heard approaching. The other men turned toward him.

"What do you want, Samson? We're busy looking for that murdering outlaw right now!"

"Then you'd better come immediately! There's been another murder on the west side of town! Six more people, including children were killed!"

"What!" There was a clatter, and the men rushed off.

Cagalli sat there for a few minutes afterward, thinking of what they had said. She was burning with anger at this recent development. "Frame me, will he?" She said, clenching her teeth as her fists tightened on _Dusk_ and _Dawn's_ handles. "Someone's gonna die today." She pushed herself to her feet, and walked down the sewer, the pain in her leg completely forgotten.

(With Kira and Athrun)

Kira popped another chip into his mouth, eyeing the papers spread out on the table before him. They were a complete timeline of Cagalli's life (don't ask how they got it), pictures from the camera in Oni Santoryu, and their own written report of the fiasco that morning. Kira took a swig from a can of soda he had bought before they had gotten there and glanced across the table at Athrun, who had been silent for the past hour or so.

"Be careful." Kira said. "You'll go grey before your time if you worry all the time like this." Athrun sighed, before helping himself to a chip.

"Yeah, I know. But, I think I've finally come to a conclusion about Cagalli." Kira's head immediately snapped up, locking eyes with his best friend.

"Well, what is it?" Athrun rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, you're not going to like it."

Kira twitched in annoyance. He _hated _when he was kept in suspense. Athrun sighed, sensing his impatience. "Well?" Kira demanded. "What is it?" There was along pause.

"Amnesia."

"Amnesia?"

(Back with Cagalli.)

Cagalli sat panting on the rooftop of an unlit building, panting, the hood of her cloak pulled up against the rain. She looked up as she heard crashing in the alleyway below, amber eyes glinting as she listened to the search party moving away below. "Well, that wasn't so bad, now as it?" She asked herself as she leaned against the stone railing along the top of the building.

She had had to dodge search groups, trudge several miles in the sewer, and take to the rooftops in the rain, but it was all worth it now that she was here. For, in the building next to hers, there was the sight of the first of the murders she had been framed for.

Cagalli stood up, counting on the darkness and the rain to make sure she wasn't seen, and made certain that there were no search parties heading this way. For once today, luck was on her side. She made her way down to the ground, until she reached the entrance to the building. She waited at the door for a brief moment. "Right…" The said, before pushing open the wooden door.

The first thing that hit her was the stench, the thick, cloying stench of death. Cagalli quickly brought one of the folds of her cloak to her face, blocking out the smell and making it easier to breath. But it was made even worse by the vision of Hell in the hallway.

Blood coated the walls of the hallway, dripping down what had obviously been very clean sandstone before the vicious murders that took place there. Cagalli saw what she thought had been a coat lying in the entrance to one of the doorways. It was a human torso.

Cagalli felt like she was going to puke as she saw occult symbols drawn on the walls, written in human blood. How could anyone have done this? But then again, after her experiences in Oni Santoryu, she knew that if a person was twisted enough, they could do a lot of sick shit. Just as a precaution, she drew _Dusk_ and _Dawn_ before continuing forward.

The scene grew even worse as she continued down the bloodstained hallway. Obviously the police force in this village wasn't equipped to handle something like this, because most of the bodies were still in the house, though the police had done something right and masked off most of the rooms with yellow tape. Cagalli's nightmares obviously had nothing on this.

After moving down the hallway, she came to the living room. Obviously a very big family had lived in this home, because there were three more bodies in here. An old Grandmother had died in her rocking chair, sewing needles still in hand, a knife in her heart. At least she had died quickly. A young couple lay on the floor beside a coffee table, their corpses ridden with bullets. Cagalli could tell from the expressions on their faces that it had been a while before they had died.

But the one room that she could not bring herself to go into, was the one that, judging by the door, had belonged to the children. Cagalli could smell blood and hear nothing from behind the door, so she was glad for an excuse not to go in. She already had enough nightmare material for months without that.

After moving from one bloody room to another, complete with bloodied weapons, she finally came to a room at the end of a long hallway. The stench coming from it was a lot thicker than in other parts of the house. Cagalli prepared herself, knowing that something undoubtedly macabre was waiting within the room. She took a deep breath, than opened the door.

The first thing she noticed was the candles, glowing brightly within the room. There was a star-shaped pentagram drawn in blood on the floor, with candles on each of points and a chair sitting in the center. But even more gruesome was the robed body that was sitting in the chair, face contorted in agony. Cagalli noticed that the person's heart had been ripped out of the body, leaving only a bloody hole. It sickened her as she stepped into the room. She should have been scared, but she wasn't. The dead only resided here, and the dead hurt no one.

She moved over to where the body was, drawing her cloak tighter to her face to ward off the stench. It was a man, around in his late-thirties, holding one of the twisted candles tightly in his hands. Cagalli looked in the direction he was looking, and then jumped back in surprise.

The corpse had been staring at a canopied bed, or rather the wall between the posts. Human heads were atop the posts, and Cagalli gritted her teeth in anger. Who had the right to do this? There was more bloody writing on the walls there. It read in twisting letters:

Come along Outlaw,

Let's play a game.

To find me is easy,

You just need a name.

You'll get one more clue with each person I maim.

So come along, Outlaw, let's begin the killing game.

Attached to the bottom of the message with a dagger was a note. Cagalli drew the dagger out of the wall, before opening its envelope.

"The dead speak no words. One of the four horsemen rides down these halls. This is only the beginning, the Ace of Wands."

From Chrono21

Oh gawd, that was horrible. Can't believe I just wrote that. Now you know why I gave that an 'R' rating. From here on out, it's a highway to hell. I'm definitely changing the rating of this fanfic. Oh well, hope ya like it. I don't have a preview of the next chapter, unfortunately, mainly because I'm still wondering how the heck I just wrote that scene. Hope no one has nightmares. Ciao.


	5. The Dreaded Author's note

The Dreaded Author's note

Ok, some of you probably knew that this was coming, seeing as I haven't updated in God-know's-when. This is the dreaded author's note. It's not that I've lost interest... Ok, I have, but I never really smoothed out the fine details when this story was first spawned in my head, so I wish to remove this from the site so that I can fix it up and hopefully bring it back better than before. Or I'll just banish it from online forever.

So I am going to wait for one month until I remove this fanfic from the site and/or discontinue it. In that time, I would like you to give me your opinions on whether or not I should discontinue this fanfic. Either way, on 8/27/06, it will all be over. Speak now or forever hold your peace.

Chrno21


End file.
